With increasing development of information industries and networks, the services provided through networks are becoming more and more appealing in various applications. Recently, with development of high-tech industries, the concepts of the cloud computing technology and the cloud storage device have been emerged, and thus a data center becomes more important. The data center is a facility used to house a plurality of computers or servers. For providing intensive network applications, the numbers of computers or servers of the data center need to be increased to exchange and store data. Consequently, the devices for supplying, distributing and managing electric power become more important. Generally, a power distribution unit (PDU) is used to distribute electric power among computers or servers of the data center. Moreover, a remote power management unit is used to manage each power distribution unit. Consequently, the power utilization efficiency of the overall data center is optimized.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the architecture of a conventional power management system of a data center. FIG. 2 is a schematic functional block diagram illustrating the architecture of the conventional power management system of the data center.
The conventional power management system 1 comprises a remote power management unit 11, a first local management unit 131, a second local management unit 132, a first group of power distribution units 141 and a second group of power distribution units 142. The power distribution units 141 in the first group are in communication with the remote power management unit 11 through the first local management unit 131. The power distribution units 142 in the second group are in communication with the remote power management unit 11 through the second local management unit 132. As shown in FIG. 1, the power distribution units 141 in the first group comprise power distribution units 141a, 141b and 141c, and the power distribution units 141a, 141b and 141c are connected with electronic devices 151, 152 and 153. For example, the electronic devices are computers or servers. Since the power distribution units 141a, 141b and 141c are in communication with the remote power management unit 11 through the first local management unit 131, the electronic devices 151, 152 and 153 can be controlled by the remote power management unit 11. Moreover, the electronic devices 151, 152 and 153 are stacked on each other and accommodated within a rack cabinet 16. A data center comprises plural rack cabinets 16 according to a cloud computing technology. As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic devices 151, 152 and 153 are connected with the power distribution units 141a, 141b and 141c, respectively. Moreover, each of the power distribution units 141a, 141b and 141c comprises plural sockets. That is, each of the power distribution units 141a, 141b and 141c can be connected with plural electronic devices. Moreover, each socket is connected with a switch element (not shown). By controlling the on/off states of the sockets, the electric power provided to the plural electronic devices can be managed, distributed and controlled.
In FIG. 2, the first local management unit 131 and the second local management unit 132 of the power management system 1 are shown. The power distribution units 141 in the first group comprise the power distribution units 141a, 141b and 141c. The power distribution units 141a, 141b and 141c are in communication with the first local management unit 131. Consequently, the power distribution units 141a, 141b and 141c have an exclusive single IP address. Similarly, the power distribution units 142 in the second group comprise power distribution units 142a, 142b and 142c. The power distribution units 142a, 142b and 142c are in communication with the second local management unit 132. Consequently, the power distribution units 142a, 142b and 142c have another exclusive single IP address. In addition, the first local management unit 131 and the second local management unit 132 are in communication with the remote power management unit 11 through an internet protocol (IP) network 12. Moreover, the remote power management unit 11 exchanges data with the first local management unit 131 and the second local management unit 132 according to the IP communication protocol with the single IP address. Since the remote power management unit 11 is in communication with the first local management unit 131 and the second local management unit 132 to manage the power distribution units 141 and 142 of different groups, the response time and the data transmission amount in the IP network are reduced.
However, the conventional power management system 1 still has some drawbacks. For example, if one of the local management units has malfunction or damage, the power distribution unit connected to the local management unit cannot be in communication with the remote power management unit 11. For example, if the first local management unit 131 has malfunction or damage, the power distribution units 141 in the first group cannot be in communication with the remote power management unit 11 through the network. Under this circumstance, the remote power management unit 11 cannot acquire the information about the operations of the electronic devices 151, 152 and 153 through the network and cannot manage the power distribution units 141a, 141b and 141c. In other words, the power management purpose of the remote power management unit 11 cannot be achieved. Moreover, since the remote power management unit 11 cannot acquire the information about the operations of the electronic devices 151, 152 and 153 through the network, it is necessary to check whether the electronic devices 151, 152 and 153 are not connected to the network or the electronic devices 151, 152 and 153 are damaged or shut down. That is, the conventional power management system is not user-friendly. The maintenance cost of the conventional power management system is high, and the process of checking and maintaining the conventional power management system is time-consuming and costly.